Since SEO was first born, we have seen a plethora of changes in regards to what works and what doesn’t when it comes to higher rankings. Throughout this time, one thing has remained steady.
Content is king.
Having high quality, unique and engaging content is the cornerstone to successful SEO, and when combined with other on-page and off-page best practices, maximises the chance of you showing up prominently in the search results.
Tweaking your old blog posts is often overlooked by business owners, but is actually crucial for maintaining a successful and relevant content strategy. We continually review and refine older blog posts for our clients with an SEO campaign.
Here’s why it matters:
1. Fixes Outdated Information
Just like SEO, most other industries evolve over time. Updating older articles on your blog ensures that readers get accurate, up-to-date information on the topics you’ve written about. This keeps readers engaged and impressed, preserving your credibility and authority.
2. Enhances User Experience
Refreshing content not only allows you to fix outdated information but also gives you a chance to improve readability. Chances are, you don’t spend a lot of time re-reading your articles when first launched, and going back with fresh eyes can help you identify and improve certain elements in the content.
Updating broken links (especially important if the blog posts are very old), adding new visuals, or optimising the formatting, can make the articles more engaging and valuable for readers.
Internal linking is a big part of SEO, so linking to newly added relevant blog posts from older ones not only helps them get indexed quicker, but provides a better user experience and builds topical authority.
3. Improves Your Search Presence
Search engines seem to favour content that is fresh and updated. By reviewing your older blog posts and optimising them with new fresh content, additional keywords and giving the overall structure improvements, you will likely see a boost in rankings, which in turn drives more traffic.
A SEMrush study found that 49% of marketers saw an increase in traffic after updating old content, with 53% noticing higher engagement rates.
Rather than letting older posts fade into obscurity, giving them a revamp can breathe new life into them, keeping them relevant and reaching new audiences. We have found this to be the case with our digital marketing blog, along with other clients’ content.
4. Boosts Conversion Opportunities
Similar to fixing broken links, fixing CTA’s and messaging is crucial as your business evolves, because your offerings may be different from when you originally created the content. Ensuring your blog posts have language and CTAs that align with current goals with improve both lead generation and sales.
If you didn’t originally do so, go back and ensure that your articles help build trust and authority. Include testimonials, case studies, or statistics to support claims. Likewise, using author bios to showcase expertise on the topic can also enhance credibility. This in turn will increase engagement.
5. More Efficient Than Creating New Content
While creating brand new articles is important, sometimes due to time restraints or lack of ideas it may not always be feasible. Revamping an existing post requires less energy than creating a new one, making it a smart way to keep your blog active.
Want to discuss this in more detail or find out more about our comprehensive SEO campaigns?
